Social Machines

Our Mission

Our Context

Societies across the globe are dependent on technology, which has transformed how people connect and communicate, how information is disseminated, and how individuals and organisations think and act.

These technologies can be exploited to enhance everyone’s lives – but they can also be exploited by threat actors, from propagandists to cyber thieves, who use them to harm people and societies.

Our Mission

What We Do

We conduct behavioural science-based research and innovation to help organisations in the public, private, and third sectors understand and build enhanced systems of people and technology designed to improve societies, organisations and people’s lives. We build trust and resilience to protect people in a changing threat landscape.

How We Work

We bridge the gap between the worlds of academia and operations in Government, Commerce and the Third Sector.

FOUNDATIONAL EVIDENCE
Our work is always evidence-based. A strong body of evidence provides a solid foundation for behaviour change interventions and innovations.

We build foundational evidence for clients using the following methods:

Literature review
Open-source data collection
Survey
Interview
Quantitative analysis
Qualitative analysis
Focus group
Experimentation
Natural language processing
Machine learning
Mixed methods analysis
Delphi method
Expert panels
Scenario generation
Horizon scanning
Backcasting and morphological analysis

APPLIED BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
We apply our scientific expertise to solve real-world problems with messy and incomplete real-world data.

We achieve this using the following methods:

Training needs analysis
Training delivery
Randomised controlled trials
A-B testing
Measurement and evaluation
Behaviour and culture change design
Stakeholder analysis

INNOVATION
Drawing on evidence bases and/or scaling applied methods, we create novel tools and resources that respond to emerging needs across our domains of expertise.

These include:

Instrument development
Method and toolkit development
Service development
Product development
Serious games design and development

Meet The Team

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Get In Touch

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Justin Hempson-Jones

Managing Director

Justin Hempson-Jones is Managing Director of Social Machines, and a behavioural scientist specialising in the theory and practice of social influence and behaviour change for defence and security. Justin holds a BSc in psychology and artificial intelligence from the University of Essex and an MPhil International Relations from the University of Oxford. He has worked for New Scotland Yard, the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratories, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Justin’s last job in government was to lead and develop a behaviour change capability to support UK foreign and security policy objectives. He is the author of ‘Influence: understand it, use it, resist it’ published in 2024 by Harper Collins.

Midori Nishioka

Senior Behavioural Scientist

Midori has over 10 years of experience in research focusing on building positive organisational environments, promoting safety, fairness, and EDI (equity, diversity, inclusion). She completed her master’s and PhD in industrial-organisational psychology at the University of Waterloo, Canada. She has worked with the public sector on projects related to cybersecurity culture, psychological resilience training, narrative persuasion, mistreatment of LGBTQ+ communities, and intersectional analysis. She has also been working with a non-profit to develop and evaluate a behaviour change health intervention for young people. Midori is skilled in quantitative and qualitative methods, including literature reviews, meta-analyses, experiments, surveys, and interviews.

Joseph Dingley

Senior Behavioural Scientist

Joe’s current focus is on understanding disinformation, international relations and audience analysis through the lens of behaviour change. He holds a degree in Psychology from Brunel University London and a master’s degree in Comparative, Evolutionary and Developmental Psychology from St. Andrews university. This eclectic background led to Joe’s involvement in designing research paradigms for hard-to-reach populations of humans – and primates and cephalopods too. This experience in developing methods for understudied populations and phenomena is crucial for how Joe solves behavioural science problems. After all, once you have designed methods to understand cephalopod intentions through chromatophores (natural cell pigmentation camouflage) human behaviour suddenly seems a lot easier!

Anupama Guha

Behavioural Scientist

Anu specialises in organisational psychology, culture, and security. She also holds a master’s degree in human resource development from Jamia Millia University in India and an MSc in Psychological Studies from the University of Aberdeen. Her professional career includes over four years’ experience consulting for multinational assessment companies, where she crafted psychometric tests, culture change and employee engagement surveys. Certified in BPS occupational personality and ability training, Anu leverages her extensive background to develop innovative interventions and tools that bridge the gap between organisational culture and positive behaviours, building resilience in human systems.

Emma Hewlett

Senior Behavioural Scientist

Emma’s main research interest is in human behaviour and cyber security, and she leads Social Machines’ cyber defence capability. Emma has a PhD in human factors in cyber security from the University of Bristol, exploring the detection of attacks against cyber physical systems; and a BSc in Human Psychology from Aston University. She previously worked as a government analyst developing cyber security survey tools and supporting legislation for consumer Internet of Things devices. Emma has also acted as a behavioural insights advisor for digital education services, and as a researcher within the wider security and defence domains, including conducting studies of equipment workload, online relationships and other aspects of human interaction.

Nick Wilding

Director – Culturlabs

Nick has worked in security, risk and resilience for over 20 years, working with hundreds of organisations, on the frontline and in the Boardroom, in developing positive security cultures and in mitigating cyber risks. He first worked for Detica (now BAE Digital Intelligence) across senior cyber security marketing, product development, thought leadership and market engagement roles; then became General Manager of Cyber Resilience at Axelos Global Best Practice where he led the RESILIA cyber resilience best practice training portfolio. In 2021 Nick became Chief Innovation Officer at Cyber Risk Aware, a human risk management platform provider, where he led all market engagement and sales activities. As Director of Culturlabs he leads the development and launch of new, evidence based, organisational culture and behaviour change products and services.

Luis Felipe Costa Sperb

Associate

Felipe is an empirical economist and research methods expert with a PhD (University of Southampton) and experience gained at the intersection of risk, data analytics, and behavioural and decision sciences. His work has focused on designing innovative methodologies and tools aimed at supporting organisations’ strategic direction, operational resilience, governance practices, and the creation and maintenance of integrated risk cultures. Currently, he is also a Senior Researcher and Teacher at the University of Edinburgh, where his research focuses on identifying new information sources to classify and quantify risk behaviour and culture – and consequently to improve operational risk management procedures, inform policy, and develop effective behavioural interventions to improve decision making.

Lily Thompson D’Arcy Johnson

Senior Behavioural Scientist

Lily specialises in organisational culture and media literacy. She holds a BSc in Psychology from Bangor University and an MSc in Human Evolution and Behaviour from UCL. Lily’s expertise lies in understanding how culture influences social learning, decision-making, and risk-taking within organisations. She has led significant projects for the UK Cabinet Office, the UK Ministry of Defence, and the UK National Cyber Security Centre, developing reliable instruments to measure organisational security culture and engaging with diverse groups to enhance inclusivity and representation. At Social Machines, Lily employs mixed methods, including experiments, surveys, focus groups, and interviews, to explore and enhance workplace skill development, bringing an evolutionary perspective to modern organisational challenges.

Selena Jones

Behavioural Scientist

Selena is interested in the intersection of technology and the psychology of organisations. She holds a BSc in Psychology at University College London and an MSc in Psychology from London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research projects have included investigating the impact of anthropomorphism on trust in AI and exploring workforce retention issues through a psychosocial lens. Selena has studied organisational development and transformation in the workplace and has worked with organisations on their EDI initiatives.

Sharon Olorunniwo

Product Manager – Culturlabs

Sharon is an accomplished Product Manager known for her friendly and collaborative approach. With over three years in the tech industry, she has a proven track record in building successful SaaS and B2C products. Sharon is passionate about AI and human-centered design, and she excels in user research, product execution, and data analysis. Her previous roles at nChain, and Publicis Sapient highlight her expertise in leading innovative projects and fostering cross-functional teamwork. Sharon holds a B.A. in Computer Science from Trinity College Dublin and has received several certifications, including UX and SAFe® 6 Product Management.

Ingrid Sommer

Behavioural Scientist

Ingrid focuses on human behaviour’s intersection with emerging technologies and information systems, specialising in influence and information conflict, and human-AI interaction. At the London School of Economics, she led behavioural research applying machine learning to improve financial support accessibility. for underrepresented students. She has contributed to shaping educational policy around AI integration at Amsterdam University College, and conducted neuroeconomics research at the University of Amsterdam studying decision-making and moral judgments. Ingrid holds an MSc in Behavioural Science from the London School of Economics, where she specialised in behavioural applications in new technology, and graduated as Valedictorian with a BSc in Liberal Arts and Sciences from Amsterdam University College, with a focus on neuroscience and psychology.

Manuel Canas

Senior Behavioural Scientist

Manuel draws on his behavioural science background to drive positive social change, supporting Social Machines projects ranging from cyber defence to diversity and inclusion. Before joining Social Machines, Manuel worked with a wide range of clients on financial behaviour, international development, and workplace and equity challenges at the Behavioural Insights Team. He has research experience from his time at Ipsos Peru, where he conducted public opinion and corporate reputation projects for the private and public sectors. Manuel holds an MSc in Behavioural Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor’s in Social Psychology from Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru.

Driving behaviour and culture change in systems of people and technology

Human Factors in Cyber Defence

Influence & Information Conflict

Resilience in Human Systems

Technology & AI Trust

Behaviour Change in Complex Systems

FOUNDATIONAL EVIDENCE Our work is always evidence-based. A strong body of evidence provides a solid foundation for behaviour change interventions and innovations.

APPLIED BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE We apply our scientific expertise to solve real-world problems with messy and incomplete real-world data.

INNOVATION Drawing on evidence bases and/or scaling applied methods, we create novel tools and resources that respond to emerging needs across our domains of expertise.

Search by name

FOUNDATIONAL EVIDENCE
Our work is always evidence-based. A strong body of evidence provides a solid foundation for behaviour change interventions and innovations.

APPLIED BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
We apply our scientific expertise to solve real-world problems with messy and incomplete real-world data.

INNOVATION
Drawing on evidence bases and/or scaling applied methods, we create novel tools and resources that respond to emerging needs across our domains of expertise.